For years, advocates have bemoaned the lack of libraries in district schools.

In the late 1990s, a time of huge budget deficits, the school district began eliminating librarian positions and failed to replace those who retired or found other jobs, my colleague Valerie Russ reported last month. The libraries without certified librarians are staffed either by teachers or by aides or assistants not required to have college degrees, prompting the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association to describe the district as having the worst record in the state in terms of certified school librarians to students.